I am still running Windows XP Professional as the main OS on my home machine. I can't fully switch to Windows Vista yet, because the Office 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh is not available yet. Office 2007 Beta 2 is not compatible with Windows Vista RC1 and I need my Outlook 2007!

So I installed everything listed above (sans Vista of course) on Windows XP.

My XP installation has carried over 10 different alpha, beta, CTP and RTM builds of VS "Whidbey" (VS 2005), "Yukon" (SQL 2005) and WinFX (.NET 3.0) since 2003. In the past, installation has sometimes been troublesome, but I always managed to get it working.

This time it was the easiest ride ever: the WinFX Beta 2 stuff deinstalled without problems and the RC1 stuff installed just fine without a single reboot in between.

Oh, and one other reason why I am not ready to fully switch to Windows Vista yet: I want Windows Vista Ultimate, but I am not willing to pay $399 for it or buy a new machine with an OEM license. Microsoft has not yet announced if the Ultimate Edition will be included in my MSDN Subscription.